China’s online population is about 751 million, and its online activity is highly restricted. Some of the numerous sites to which access is restricted include Facebook, Google, the New York Times, and YouTube. The Tiananmen Square student protests of 1989 received minimal coverage. For a while, even Winnie the Pooh was banned.

To maintain control of such a massive universe of online content, China uses the world’s largest censorship system, fittingly referred to as the Great Firewall of China. It’s a collaboration between state monitors and China’s telecommunication companies, which are forced to implement rules set by the Chinese government.

The effects of the system are felt far beyond China, which appears to have paved the way for other oppressive governments to follow suit.

Both ordinary people and organizations rely on VPNs for a number of reasons. A secure connection to a shared network; keeping up to date with sports, news, and popular TV shows, accessing console exclusives, P2P sharing. The reasons are endless. But online safety and anonymity is what everyone expects VPNs to provide. Some are really good at it too. The level of technology services are working with means that we’re now more protected against snooping than ever.

Although some services are more expensive than others, there are a lot of free ones out there too; some better than others. But choosing one that gives the right level of protection and performance is going to be difficult. Although you’re saving money, you won’t get the performance you’re bound to expect from it. And you won’t experience anywhere near the benefits a paid user would, even if you choose one of the better names. Another thing to consider is that the app you’ve installed might not be one you can trust. Some will use your data against your will, operate on a peer-to-peer format, and many don’t offer the level of encryption you would expect.

Watching TV hasn’t been confined to the box for a long time. There are numerous websites out there that allow you to watch live television broadcasts from numerous countries.

Although there are plenty of great VOD (video on demand) services, like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, not everyone’s prepared to sit by while the new Game of Thrones or Walking Dead is airing in the States. Sports fans might prefer to stream international football as it happens, without having to settle for the highlights, and followers of current affairs may wish to digest their news through foreign sources.

Many of these services, however, are region-specific – meaning they can only be used by people located in the same area as the website’s servers. If you’re looking to get around these restrictions, you’re going to need a VPN. A VPN (virtual private network) allows you to connect to a private network over the public network. It provides access to all Geo-restricted websites and will secure your browser from being tracked by your ISP, as well as any hackers. If you’re looking to access a blocked Internet television service, just choose one of your VPN’s servers which is based in that region. It really is that easy.

Regardless of the browser you’re using, the right extensions can greatly improve your browsing experience. However, there is no doubt that there are far too many mediocre and outright bad extensions and plugins when it comes to ensuring privacy and security.

There’s no reason why you should be content with a poor-quality VPN extension. Our experts and users have tested a number of VPN extensions and we’ve used the results to come up with a list of five VPN Chrome extensions that will not disappoint, whether you are looking for speed, reliability, or just an extension that offers all the basics at the right price.

In addition to the above features, we also considered how easy it is to navigate the user interface of the VPN Chrome extensions which we tested. Here are our five best picks.

For a long time, China has used the Great Firewall (GFW)—a highly sophisticated set of tools for filtering content—to censor what users within its borders can access online. Recently, the Peoples’ Republic of China made a move to shut down the last bastion of uninhibited online access, but chances are that the move is going to backfire.

In January 2017, authorities in China embarked on a 14-month-long campaign to mop up the country’s large number of unauthorized websites. Among the top targets of the campaign were virtual private network (VPN) providers, who enable users to circumvent the GFW by tunneling users’ online activities to servers located in other countries, effectively altering the IP address and cloaking the identities of users. These VPN services, used by many to navigate to blocked websites such as Google, popular social media websites, and established online publications, are immensely popular among citizens who are interested in accessing foreign websites. However, VPN providers have been a nuisance to the Chinese government for a long time.